(((((OPENmind/SATURATEDbrain))))): USURP SYNAPSE

Tuesday, 23 February 2016

USURP SYNAPSE

Band: USURP SYNAPSE

Genres: Punk / Hardcore / Screamo / Emo-violence / Grindcore / Avant Garde / Skramz / Noise / Experimental
Related artists: Fax Arcana, Racebannon, Rep Seki, Rapider Than Horsepower, (Longlive) The Romance Morgue, Demonologists, Tenebrious, Upheaval, AA, Bat Manors, Holiday Band, Memory Map, Mt. Gigantic, The D.K.G. Sleep Trio, Basshaters, Bay/Oslo Mirror Trio, Storm Of Corpses, Sult, The Emergency String (X)Tet, Drago Miette and Addleds.
Country: Lafayette, Indiana USA
Years Active: 1999-2005
Song: "Untitled Track 4"
Album: "Jeromes Dream split"
Year: 2000
For fans of: Combatwoundedveteran, Reversal Of Man, Gospel, Crestfallen, .Gif From God, Advocate, Kodan Armada, Phoenix Bodies, Tyranny Of Shaw, Me And Him Call It Us, Mara'akate, Cassilis, The Great Redneck Hope, Anger Is Beautiful, Avenging Disco Godfathers Of Soul, Racebannon, Jeromes Dream, Orchid, Daughters and Discordance Axis aka PROPER SCREAMO.

Label(s): Self Released / Witching Hour / Level Plane Records / Happy Couples Never Last Recordings / Electric Human Project / Clean Plate Records / Alone Records / Magister Ludi Records
This post's artist is from the November 2015 Mix. This is track #7.

You can download: the January Mix#1 right here or get the new February 2016 Mix#2 here.

I think a good way to describe the USURP SYNAPSE via band comparison would be a dirty collection of similar evolutionary style shifts from both Mara'akate and Jeromes Dream, but with some synths and a much more unsettling and dark persona - and hey, let's be honest, it's pretty fucked up. The band had a very peculiar sound, dynamics as well as discography collection, as pretty much everything about them seems a little off, strange and abnormal - but, hey, that's USURP SYNAPSE. The vocals were generally of the shrieked, puked and/or screamed variety that can be heard in other bands such as Crestfallen, Combatwoundedveteran, Wet Petals and United Nations, but implement a multitude of people doing so. On top of the keyboard and overall insanity, the band also opted for numerous (and extremely well placed) movie audio clips. All of this was jammed into a grinder with breakneck drums and set to screamo/emo-violence which generally blasts rather obnoxiously in short bursts of 20 to 120 seconds.

I should also say that although I adore some USURP SYNAPSE songs, there are lots that don't do much for me. Then again, the band did release over 60 songs. On the classic 2xcd discography released on Alone Records titled 'Disinformation Fix' all of the material save the 2008 digital release (called 'Vile Contimina' and it's wicked) is compiled for easy access, but not easy track listings. The track order gets fucked up at 15 because a song called "Just Do It!" is not listed on any release that I have seen, so after that song the insert indicates a different track than the track tag info! Bloody hell it's a nightmare, but I took time to correctly name all of my wmas, but unfortunately I haven't done it for the mp3s that I've mirrored a link from, which happens to be the Today And Tomorrow blog so thank you TAT!

Let's look over my favourite songs.

All from the 'Jeromes Dream split', "Untitled Track 2", "Untitled Track 3" and "Untitled Track 4" are killer. "2" is over and done in less than 30 seconds, while "3" is a scathing ordeal that clocks in at 1:49 with the final minute being another insertion of a movie clip that sounds downright disturbing and "4" is 1:47 of hardcore slathered in multiple screams and clean, trippy guitars that work better than the band's standard fare and could easily be likened to Mara'akate and newer bands such as Wet Petals. From the 'Index For Potential Suicide split' "I'm a Fufufucking Vavavampire" sounds like the feeling you get when food poisoning is in full effect, because those guitars are fucked, but again I mean this in the best possible way. Most likely from the 'Just Do It! split 7" w/Hassan I Sabbah', "Just Do It!" is pummeling and very reminiscent of Combatwoundedveteran and Me And Him Call It Us, but just before halfway they do that slow, jammy interlude thing again with layered screaming prior to the climax which is essentially the song becoming unstable and detonating, and it's awesome.

From 'The Endless Breath' cdEP there are loads of great tunes. "This City's a Grid" is a prime example that opens with a very chill jam before gettin' all screamy after a mere 20 seconds, which builds as much as it can and explodes after the 40-second mark with breakdowns galore and a freaky The Texas Chainsaw Massacre audio clip. "Pete's Homerun Derby" begins with an eerie, grainy ambiance not unlike that of an old black and white horror movie before jumping into some crazy shit and coming back out again relatively unscathed by the end, and good goddamn those bass lines.

"Bloody Hardhat" combines Orchid screamy hardcore with obtuse timing and rhythms. "Reach Out and Touch Me With That Emo Hand" is a pummeling onslaught of early Mara'akate and Reversal Of Man scathing screamo with some absolutely silly drumming while "Hairdo 2000 AD" and "Rottweiler Death" both set blazing trails not unlike Me And Him Call It Us, albeit a bit slower. "Oh...You Are Sick" lends itself to European emo-violence crossed with Combatwoundedveteran and is an all out assault on the ears.

Post-2000 USURP SYNAPSE released the 'Disinformation Fix' discography that contained unreleased beauts such as "Modulator/Demodulator" which is a fucking weird song that brings very late Jeromes Dream material to mind, as if the vocals are being shouted through a megaphone and the instrumentals are dirty, rock-ridden post-hardcore confusion that really takes hold and kicks ass in the latter half. The possibly inappropriate title of "Giga Please!" happens to be an amazing song and is a clusterfuck of styles that ends up sounding like newer bands such as the metallic/noise screamo put forth by .Gif From God and Gas Up Yr Hearse!. The posthumous 2008 digital release of the 7 (mostly) untitled songs sound a little subdued but excellent nonetheless. Tracks such as "Untitled 3" and "Untitled 7" have a very Blood Brothers bass vibe going on and I fucking love it.

Well shit, I guess that's it. This discography is strongly recommended!

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DISCOGRAPHY
Click )==>here<==( to download the band's complete discography in mp3 form.

1999 - This Endless Breath cdEP
1999 - In Examination Of 6"/7"EP
1999 - Index For Potential Suicide split 7"EP
1999 - Index of Isolation (split w/Emotion Zero) 7"EP

2000 - The Main Ingredient 7"EP
2000 - Just Do It! (split w/Hassan I Sabbah) 7"EP
2000 - An Aspirin, An X-Ray (split w/Jeromes Dream) 7"EP
2000 - The Chilling Tale of Usurp Synapse As Told By Neil Perry (split w/Neil Perry) 7"EP

2000 - Rep Seki split 5"EP

2003 - Disinformation Fix 2xcd compilation

2008 - Vile Contamina digitalEP

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(1999) USURP SYNAPSE - "This City's a Grid" (from 'This Endless Breath')